Tom Ford Spring Summer 2026 by Haider Ackermann “Midnight Temptation”. Story by RUNWAY MAGAZINE. Photo Courtesy: Tom Ford.
There’s something thrilling about watching a designer walk the razor’s edge between homage and reinvention. For Spring Summer 2026, Haider Ackermann did more than follow in Tom Ford’s footsteps—he prowled them in the dark, drenched them in ink-blue smoke, and made them shimmer with sweat, sex, and sheer cinematic provocation.
Ackermann, now firmly in command of the house, didn’t merely direct a show. He staged a mood, a moment—no, a movie. The runway—slick, shadowy, and high-gloss—was less catwalk, more midnight poolside scene from a lost Halston-era film noir. The models? Not mannequins, but characters: prowling, slinking, and seducing their way down the set. Gone were the bored, desensitized expressions of fashion’s current crop of runway drones. These girls and boys knew exactly who they were—co-stars in a story about longing, vanity, intimacy, and rebellion.
When Erin O’Connor and Scott Barnhill embraced on the runway—his-and-hers navy silk suits, matching slicked-back hair—it wasn’t just a walk; it was a whispered plot twist. A nod to Ford’s legacy, yes, but also a confident signature of Ackermann’s own. David Bowie’s acapella “Heroes” made sure we knew—this was about lovers, even if fleeting.
If Ackermann’s debut season cautiously tested the boundaries of Fordian sensuality, this one dove right in. Think midnight swim, but make it patent leather: laser-cut to resemble droplets, skin gleaming beneath the surface. Bikini tops as shirts for the women, sheer shorts and exposed jockstraps for the men. Not vulgar, not even particularly explicit—just hot. Tom Ford hot. But with Ackermann’s cooler, slyer gaze.
Eveningwear went surreal. Wire-sculpted gowns appeared to levitate, a single strap of fabric defying physics as it cradled a bare breast. Elsewhere, daring echoes of Rudi Gernreich met Ackermann’s own past provocations—spring 2011’s topless gowns resurrected, this time whispering rather than shouting. Always on the edge of scandal, never tipping in.
But beyond the staging and seduction, it was the color that truly betrayed the designer’s hand. Ford might’ve preferred camel, oxblood, and black. Ackermann, ever the poet of hue, painted in lime sorbet, baby pink, mint satin, pool blue, orange. These tones didn’t clash with the house’s legacy—they rejuvenated it, splashing its mirror-polished past with something altogether more human.
And as the smoke thickened for the finale, the fantasy deepened. This wasn’t just Ackermann proving he could do Ford. It was Ackermann doing Ford his way—stealing a kiss in the dark, leaving fingerprints on the chrome.
Consider the seduction complete. Tom Ford lives on—but under Ackermann, he’s taken a midnight swim, and come back soaked in something new.
See All Looks Tom Ford Spring Summer 2026
